“Li… Lifa…”
Moonlight streamed in through an entire wall of glass. Ron could vaguely see that the room Rosalyn had arranged for them was a spacious suite with a central living room.
Lifa stood right at the entrance, her emerald eyes fixed on Ron with a terrifying gaze he had never seen before, blocking his path. “Lifa?”
Ron felt a bit unnerved under her stare. It felt like the deathly glare of a wife catching her husband in bed with another woman.
Perhaps the metaphor was inappropriate, but he couldn’t think of anything else to compare it to at the moment.
The normally lively and adorable blonde girl did not respond, her eyes still locked onto Ron. Looking at her again, Ron was reminded of a small beast staring down its prey.
“You were drunk just now. How are you? Are you feeling better?”
‘I should try to communicate first,’ Ron thought as he asked about her condition while searching the darkness for a light switch.
Ah, he found it.
In aristocratic households like the Earl of Enid’s, the extensive use of magical tools made many of their facilities quite similar to those in Ron’s original world.
Just a few steps away, Ron found a row of switches on the wall.
However, Lifa was blocking the way.
The moment Ron moved and turned his body to take the first step toward the switch, the previously motionless Lifa lunged at him with incredible speed.
“Hehe~”
By the time Ron heard Lifa’s slurred giggle, his arms were already pinned by her single hand.
After all, there was a vast difference in strength between a fourth-rank swordsman and an ordinary person. Ron was slammed against the wall next to the light switch without any suspense.
“Lifa, wake up! I’m your teacher, Ron. You’re drunk—”
Trying to struggle to no avail, Ron looked at the now-motionless Lifa and naturally recalled a bad memory.
That terrible dream.
On his first night after transmigrating to the Uthis Continent, he had dreamed about Lifa.
Ron held his breath. He felt as though he and Lifa were playing a game of ‘three-two-one, freeze.’
As long as he didn’t move, Lifa seemed to have a lapse in consciousness and made no further moves. Only those emerald eyes remained exceptionally clear and bright in the darkness.
“Tea… Teacher…”
This standoff lasted for quite a long time. Just as Ron’s patience for remaining still was about to reach its limit, Lifa let out a low murmur.
“It’s me. Lifa, let go of me first.”
Ron felt that since Lifa could recognize him, this was likely just a drunken accident. Relaxing slightly, he reached out to press the switch on the wall.
*Click.*
Accompanied by a crisp sound, the faint hum of activated magic echoed within the wall. Moments later, the corresponding circuit activated, and the fireplace in the room ignited.
“No.”
Lifa’s verbal response was more than a beat slower than usual, but her physical reaction was superior. As soon as Ron pressed the first switch, he was immediately pinned back against the wall by Lifa again.
“W-Why?”
The firelight from the fireplace struggled to illuminate the entire room, but it finally brought some light to the living room.
The warm glow reached across the space, stretching Ron and Lifa’s intertwined shadows all the way to the window.
“Just… no.”
Lifa lowered her head. Half of her small face was illuminated by the fireplace while the other half remained in shadow.
Thanks to the low alcohol content of the spirit fruit wine, although the girl couldn’t handle her liquor, she had woken up shortly after being brought to this room by the maid.
However, the **[DEBUFF: DRUNK]** remained.
The thought that Rosalyn—that scheming woman who pretended to be pure—would be alone with her teacher after she left had consumed her.
Lifa was already prone to overthinking when it came to romantic matters; now, her emotions and consciousness were racing under the influence of alcohol.
“Teacher, Lifa wants to protect you forever!”
‘Fortunately, fortunately, I still managed to wait for Teacher—’
‘He wasn’t snatched away by that woman, and he didn’t stay the night there—’
Her smile was full of the joy of having Ron back. The girl’s cheeks, already flushed from the wine, looked even more bashful.
“Yes, I know.”
Ron thought this would be the end of it.
“Hehe~”
Lifa laughed somewhat foolishly, but she showed no intention of giving Ron back his freedom.
‘Lifa, it’s time for your final attack—’
‘Don’t hesitate anymore, and you’ll never have to worry about Teacher Ron being snatched away again—’
Ron, who was trying to break free, naturally had no way of knowing Lifa’s internal thoughts.
But just looking at her expression and the occasional giggles, he understood: his student was still heavily intoxicated.
In this situation, he felt things were even more troublesome than facing the two-faced Rosalyn. After all, a drunk person was completely irrational and unpredictable.
“Lifa, I’m very tired, and so are you. We should both go get some rest.”
Ron still wanted to try communicating verbally, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness.
From her perspective, Lifa didn’t seem to hear Ron’s words at all, simply letting her gaze wander over him.
‘What should I do? First, I should confess and tell Teacher Ron that I like him… the kind of like where I want to be his wife—’
‘But… what then? Aunt Ruth didn’t finish explaining what that last step was supposed to be—’
It wasn’t that Lifa hadn’t heard Ron; with the help of the alcohol, she had finally gathered the courage and determination to confess her feelings.
However, her plan was to reach the goal in one go, fast-tracking her relationship with Ron to the final step tonight.
And that was precisely where the problem lay.
Lifa didn’t know what to do.
Aunt Ruth had only smiled and hadn’t explained it clearly, and her teacher had certainly never taught her anything regarding that subject.
She vaguely knew it involved physical contact between two people, but as for the detailed specifics, her mind was a total blank.
Lifa’s ‘seduce the teacher’ progress bar was stuck.
It was as if there was only 1% left for a download to finish, but the internet speed suddenly dropped to zero or the computer crashed.
Anxiety instantly diluted her surge of determination.
“I… I, I, I…”
Finding herself far from prepared, Lifa panicked. Her resolve was shaken; was there any point in continuing?
“Lifa, you’re drunk,” Ron said earnestly. Seeing that Lifa had let go, he placed his hands on the girl’s shoulders. “If you keep acting up, I’m going to get angry!”
On the surface, it was a mock-stern warning, but Ron’s tone remained very gentle.
He felt partially responsible for Lifa getting drunk. If he had known more about this child, this situation wouldn’t have happened.
“Ugh—”
Lifa’s eyes darted away. Genuinely thinking Ron was dissatisfied, she obediently took a few steps back.
*Click, click.*
The lights in the living room were all turned on at once.
“Lifa, are you a little more sober now?”
“Go back to your room and sleep. I have something important to tell you tomorrow.”
Ron saw that the door to one of the rooms connected to the living room was open, so he escorted the silent Lifa back.
“Goodnight.”
Lifa stayed until she was lying in bed, tucked in by Ron’s own hands, and watched him close the door as he left.
Feeling somewhat unwilling, Lifa suddenly sat up in bed, wanting to chase after him. In the end, she only sat there with her head bowed for a while before lying back down.